POSTGAME - BYU vs. Texas A&M, NCAA First Round

POSTGAME NOTES

BYU vs. Texas A&M

March 19, 2009

Player Notes

— Noah Hartsock had a great game off the bench for the second-straight game, scoring 10 points while hitting 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from the free throw line against Texas A&M. He added four rebounds, one block and a career-best 26 minutes of playing time. In the final two games of the season he posted 17 points, nine boards and three blocks in 46 minutes of playing time.

— In his final game as a BYU Cougar Lee Cummard scored 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 in the second half, and 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line. He added six assists, one steal and three rebounds.

— Jimmer Fredette scored a team-high 18 points to go with four steals, one rebound and one assist.

Team Notes

— For the 31st time in 33 games this season, BYU head coach Dave Rose started Jimmer Fredette, Jackson Emery, Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Chris Miles. The Cougars are 23-8 with that starting lineup. Lamont Morgan, Jr., started the first game of the season in place of Jimmer Fredette and Charles Abouo started the Wyoming game in Provo in place of Jackson Emery.

— Trailing 30-42 at the break against the Aggies in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars trailed at the half for the eighth-straight game. BYU is 5-3 in those games, losing the first 75-74 at UNLV before winning the next five to secure a third-straight MWC regular season title. The Cougars have since lost to San Diego State in the MWC semiinals and Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament.

— NCAA Tournament History -- With the 79-66 loss to Texas A&M, BYU is now 11-27 all-time in 24 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Cougars have lost in the first round in their last seven NCAA Tournament appearances. BYU is 7-17 in first-round play.

Record Watch

— Lee Cummard has now played in 131 consecutive games and 131 games for his career, both school records. He broke the all-time record for consecutive games played, previously held by Mark Durrant (128), against Air Force in the quarterfinals of the MWC tournament and set the record for total games against San Diego State in the semifinals.

— With 17 points against Texas A&M on Thursday, Lee Cummard now has 556 points this season and 1,569 career points. He concludes his career ninth all-time on the career scoring list at BYU.

— With nine points against Texas A&M on Thursday, Jonathan Tavernari has 517 points this season and 1,167 for his career. He is now 24th all-time in scoring at BYU.

— With three threes against Aggies Jonathan Tavernari now has 85 threes for the season and 202 for his career. He is 12 from passing Mark Bigelow (213) for first all-time at BYU in career threes.

Game Trends

— Texas A&M opened the game 10-of-10 from the field to start the game with a 24-8 lead. The Aggies added a put back layup on their first loss to take their biggest lead at 26-8. BYU battled back with a 16-6 run to cut the lead to eight at 32-24. Jonathan Tavernari hit three threes during the run for all nine of his points.

POSTGAME QUOTES

BYU vs. Texas A&M

March 19, 2009

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

"I'd like to give a lot of credit to Texas A&M. They're a very good basketball team. They came out and really got a great start to the game, especially

offensively, which made it very difficult for us on both ends of the floor."

"I thought that our players recovered from the slow start and force some misses with our zone defense. And then we had an opportunity there in the second half to cut it to five or six with a couple of three-point attempts. I thought that could have been a big turnaround if one of those two shots had gone in. We could have made a run at the end."